People Incorporated (PPLI) J.P. Morgan 54th Annual Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference summary

Strategic transformation and consolidation

• Transitioning from a holding company to People Inc, consolidating corporate functions and focusing on two primary assets: People Inc and a 26% stake in MGM.

• Sold non-core assets like Care and wound down the search business, with ongoing plans to opportunistically divest other holdings such as Turo and Vivian.

• Rationalized corporate costs to a run rate in the mid to low $80 million range and fully integrated IAC corporate into People Inc operations.

• Capital allocation priorities are now focused on share buybacks, increasing MGM ownership, and selective M&A through People Inc.

• The strategy aims to simplify the business, shrink the holding company discount, and maximize shareholder value.

People Inc business model and growth

• People Inc is the largest U.S. publisher, with iconic brands like People, Better Homes & Gardens, and Food & Wine; 70% of revenue and 90% of profitability are from digital media.

• Digital business has maintained mid- to high-single-digit growth despite traffic headwinds from AI Overviews, driven by brand unification and platform diversification.

• 41% of revenue is now non-session-based (off-platform), growing 24% in Q1, while session-based revenue was flat.

• Non-session-based revenue includes content syndication, social media, and AI licensing, all with attractive margins.

• The company leverages its owned assets to seed new products and reallocates resources to growth areas, maintaining strong cost discipline.

Innovation and future initiatives

• D/Cipher, a proprietary ad targeting tool, extends premium ad performance off-platform and is expected to add 100 basis points to growth in the back half of the year.

• AI licensing deals (e.g., with OpenAI and Microsoft) are structured as either all-you-can-eat or pay-per-use, with growing industry willingness to pay for premium content.

• The "inversion" strategy focuses on building new, durable business models for iconic brands, such as the MyRecipes digital cookbook, which has over 3 million users.

• Internationally, 85% of traffic is U.S.-based, with international monetization relying on programmatic markets and select magazine editions.

• The company is exploring both co-opting and competing with the creator economy, including acquisitions like Feedfeed and developing in-house influencer talent.